Announcing The Winner of The November ‘Favourite Writer’ Competition

From an outstanding collecting of entries, only one could be chosen

It has been an honour to read through all of the submitted entries to the New Writers Welcome competition. At the same time, it’s been a huge challenge to choose just one winner from a selection of such high quality.

Every single entry was unique, spoke its own language, and shared with heart why the author chose to highlight their chosen favourite writer.

So, first of all, I wish to thank each and every one of you for giving the time and the thought to these beautiful pieces.

The process of reading was an adventure in itself. It took a much longer time than I had expected because I was compelled by your beautiful recommendations to go and read the work of these authors, and found myself drawn into their work and their worlds too.

I was introduced to a good selection of writers new to me and have now followed quite a few, saved some of their stories to read at a later date, and even joined a new publication run by one of them.

A testimony to the great job you did.

First, some special mentions

In Ashfaq Framewala’s piece referencing Yana Bostongirl as his favourite writer, I could feel the deep sense of connection to her writing in his words. Ashfaq, I loved the way in which you highlighted the reasons why you connect deeply with her personality and shared snippets of her writing to take us that much deeper into your own perception and hers. This, in itself, was a joy for me as the reader.

Crystal A. Walker, what can I say — my appreciation of pure, unadulterated potty-mouthed, raw, say-it-as-it-is humour is clearly along similar lines to your own. I loved the humour with which you shared how the work of Jason Toastedmarshmallows has touched you, and the humanity that he brings through a unique and brilliant means of expression.

Martin Andersson Aaberge wrote an incredible, descriptive piece highlighting Jessica Wildfire’s work. I particularly loved the following extract, which captured Jessica’s tone and style perfectly:

“Like a bonfire, her words create chaos before settling down with a punchline. She delivers brutal statements but always backs them up and makes you think.”

And Susie Kearley, sharing your personal connection with a sense of mystery had me intrigued. Using the words ‘eccentric’, ‘British’, ‘humour’ and ‘controversy’ will get this girl here digging further. Needless to say, Edward John now has a new follower.

As the judge of this contest, I realised that the challenge was not an easy one.

Your job was, essentially, to communicate to the reader the emotions that you feel when reading the work of your chosen writer.

For some, this was a sense of feeling aligned and understood in a very unique way. This was beautifully captured by Sam Finlayson, Deb Fiore and Lena Ann, who share a common theme in their journeys and their writing. And, as a result, have found solace in one another.

Honestly, it was a heart-wrench to see and read the words the three of you shared about each other.

A special mention also goes to Gaurav Jain for his absolutely wonderful, humorous, and engaging piece, highlighting some amazing authors. And, by the way, we seem to share the same tastes in writing ;)

However, in answer to your query…

…Unfortunately, you didn’t qualify because you couldn’t quite show enough favouritism to place any one above the others. And I get that —why show favouritism when you don’t need to?

(But I like the bit about women’s brains and totally agree!) 😉

However, back to the joyous world of favouritism…

Despite it all, there can only be one winner

It finally came down to a very close competition between two beautiful and engaging pieces. Extremely close.

Sharing Randomly wrote with such zest and an edge of excitement about Trista Signe Ainsworth that hooked me right in, and perfectly reflected the gentle yet engaging presence in Trista’s writing. In addition, her own support for the movement that Trista has created — one of remembering to be grateful every single day — was noted and beautifully communicated.

The one I eventually settled on, however, I did so because of one unique characteristic:

A sense of absolute fun drenched in creativity and drizzled with humour.

This piece used some unique writing qualities: analogies written so well that I was drawn completely into the journey of the story; a play on a theme that wove throughout the piece consistently and cleverly while surprising me perfectly at every new turn.

Okay, she used the theme of luxurious sweet delights, so I was probably lured in through my tastebuds being tickled at every turn. I admit I am weak when chocolates and gooey pastries are involved. Yet, it was too clever to ignore.

In addition, the humour with which she did this perfectly captured the unique qualities of the writer she was describing — the hilarious, raw and sometimes somewhat goofy Lindsay Rae Brown — and this was what did it for me. To be able to emit the essence of Lindsay herself was powerful and deserved the top prize.

“Lindsay Rae has an endearing lack of serious writer arrogance and pomposity. Among other areas, she lampoons her weight, parenting, eccentric impulses, her whole life. This all adds up to an entertaining and totally relatable soft-centred assortment, with no space wasted in the box by hard toffees or licorice. Every story is a small delight, with the refreshing authenticity of a crisp, crunchy green apple, in a rambutan world. Or I should say, of a ganache filled pastry in a vegan, plant-based, gluten-free cookie world.”

So, congratulations to Janet Meisel for your winning entry!

Please contact Robert Ralph at [email protected] with your PayPal email address for your prize 🎉🍾

Thank you to all the so-far unmentioned entries — unfortunately, I couldn’t give a personal shoutout to everyone, but we appreciate each and every one of you Sharing Words, Dorin Cojocariu, Lukas Dobner, Marilyn Glover, Cathy Coombs, Casey Lawrence, Shilpa Sri Karra, Warren Patterson and Dunelair.

And good luck to everyone in the upcoming December competition 🎄

PS…

If you would like to support me by giving me 50 claps on my entry to the Coffee Challenge, I would be most grateful ❤